Summary
If there is no video, audio, or call-in event (call tone) while using the JKW-IP software, there are several tests to determine the cause.
Solution
First, make sure the JK-1MD/1MED (master station) is powered on, on standby, and also that it is properly connected to the JKW-IP adaptor. If the JKW-IP Software indicates status with a blue square or gray square, that usually means that the computer and the adaptor are communicating enough to verify the presence of each other and use basic commands (via SIP).
Is there a Status Icon?
The gray square (or a blue square) means the software has completed the ‘Adaptor Registration’ step (To configure the adaptor, right-click then select ‘Connect’). If the status icon is absent, try right-clicking the slot and choose ‘Connect’ from the drop-down menu. If the ‘Adaptor Registration’ page is blank, refer to your manual for programming information.
What happens when the door station’s call button is pressed? Does the JK master show video and otherwise work correctly? Is the master on?
If the video display remains black and the JK master station shows video, the only wire worth checking at that point is B1, B2 between the master and the adaptor, every other wire connection is fine.
Does the placeholder appear when you hit Monitor?
A ‘black screen’ could be a configuration problem.
Picture: This is the ‘placeholder picture’ and it will display anytime the JKW-IP software is expecting data during a Call-In event but is not receiving video data as expected.
The most common problem is incorrect registration (programming) of the adaptor. We recommend turning ‘UPnP OFF‘, and then manually entering the ‘PC Application’ area information. (Shown below) This is especially important for WAN networks.
- The Adaptor IP address, password, and ports must be accurate.
- The Admin User ID can be any valid set of credentials or left blank for better security.
- The correct NIC card must be chosen (Wired or Wireless).
- In the PC application box, turn on UPnP, as it should work in most scenarios. When you turn off UPnP, make sure the Local IP address for the PC and the WAN address for the PC is the same, or otherwise match what was given by the Network Administrator. The same applies to the 3 ports. The PC application box tells the adaptor how to talk to the PC.
Advanced network troubleshooting
If the program shows the placeholder picture when a door calls in or if the video display remains black when you select an adaptor and press Monitor:
Turn off all firewalls (there are multiple ways to do this) and test again. If the video and audio data comes in without the firewall, you will have to configure the firewall to either allow the program network access or let it receive data by what we call “punching a hole” as below..
- Pick a set of ports, a Connection Port, an Audio port, and a Video port for the computer to receive data from the adaptor on
- Turn UPnP Off in the Adaptor Registration step (see example below), and choose ports for Connections, Audio, and Video manually. If you are not using a WAN just use the same IP address for the PC IP address line as the WAN / Global IP Address line
- Configure the firewall to open those ports for UDP traffic (or both TCP and UDP). Contact the manufacturer of their firewall for specific instructions
Note that the reason you see the placeholder picture is usually because SIP is rarely blocked by a firewall, so the commands to listen for data are received but the data itself is being dumped by the firewall. If SIP is being blocked, the Connect step will complete because the computer started the conversation, but the door calling in the event will NOT even trigger the placeholder picture because the firewall treats it as non requested data from the network and dumps it (which is exactly what firewalls were designed to do).
If the JKW-IP system is being installed on a WAN and is attempting to connect a computer on a separate LAN from the adaptor:
Confirm network hardware is capable of routing RTP and has been configured to do so (refer to hardware manufacturer for instructions and capabilities). Remember that RTP uses UDP and you have to specify a Connection port, an audio port, and a Video port within the routing rules (Port Forwarding or Network Address Translation) of the router or gateway of each network.
Also note that many routers will automatically forward SIP without configuration, so you will often be able to Connect to an adaptor, but you will not get audio and video data since routers are not automatically going to route those.
In the example below, we picked (completely at random) 10000 for Connections, 20002 for Audio, and 30002 for Video. We then turned off UPnP for the computer and specified which ports and the IP address we want the adaptor to send data to this computer. The same will need to be done to the networking hardware for the adaptor’s network, although the adaptor’s ports are defined in the web interface opened by the [Settings] button (under Network settings you can change the Connection Port, Audio Port, and Video Port).
Is it a network problem?
When the ‘Adaptor Registration’ step is completed the computer will send data to the adaptor and if everything is configured correctly it will receive a response and a Status Icon will appear.
When a call is placed by the door station, the computer receives a similar handshake, which is a SIP message and replies. After this has occurred video and audio data will be sent by the adaptor to the appropriate ports via RTP.
To test whether the audio and video are even getting to the computer, use a Packet Analyzer Tool like Wireshark. Start the capture on the interface the computer uses (the card specified in the ‘Adaptor Registration’ step) and stop after the call has ended.
- Select a SIP packet to determine which port a packet sent your PC’s IP address arrives on, this is the “Connection Port”
- Select an RTP packet with MJPEG data to determine the Video Port
- Select an RTP packet with G 7.11 data to determine the Audio Port
Picture: This is a screenshot of the Wireshark output, I scrolled down to a convenient series of packets that had a SIP packet with RTP packets of audio and video nearby (probably when I pressed the Talk button during the “JKW-IP Monitor with Talk” capture). The red rectangle highlights the PC’s address, the adaptor’s address, and the ports they use for initiating the SIP session. Examples are provided, “JKW-IP Monitor with Talk.pcap” and “JKW-IP Door Call” will open with Wireshark, and these tests are done with almost no other network traffic.
If the data never reaches the PC, then something happened to it over the network.
Use Wireshark at each network hop (starting at the adaptor’s switch, preferably with the switch in promiscuous mode, or just use a hub) and find out what happened to that data.